Yuki chan in Wonderland
by Zukinn Chan
Summary: A Furuba version of Alice's adventures in Wonderland. Yuki finds himself in a nonsensical land where beheading is often the solution for everything, according to one individual... Ch.8 up now! Meet the Main Players of the Kingdom of Hearts!
1. Of rabbits and pits

Disclaimer:

All the characters in Fruits Basket belong to Natsuki Takaya. The setting and situations have been taken from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll.

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Yuki-chan in Wonderland

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Yuki Sohma was beginning to get rather tired.

His older brother, the effeminate (Even more so than Yuki himself, really, though Yuki did not mind one bit) Ayame Sohma, had managed to drag the younger boy down to "A nice little lake, so as to have a lovely chat", and Yuki was far from enjoying himself.

Yuki was not particularly fond of his older brother.

When Yuki was younger, and in need of comfort, Ayame had made it quite obvious that he had no interest in such things. When the two were older, Ayame regretted it, and constantly tried to make amends.

Alas, as is usually is with older and younger siblings once the age difference has taken full effect, the two are on completely different planets (So to speak, for it would be quite silly to assume that they were on actual planets, separately!), so it makes Ayame's quest all the harder.

Now, usually Yuki disliked being around Ayame, but when one _has _to sit around, listening to older brothers prattle on about the time he was asked to make a properly fitted, embroidered, elaborate corset in only two day's notice, one starts to dislike being around the said brother even more.

So there Yuki was, sitting on the green grass under a shady lakeside tree, trying to ignore Ayame.

He had just been beginning to contemplate whether it would be a waste of strength knocking the older Sohma out and escaping, when suddenly a cream-colored rabbit with pink eyes bounded close by him.

Now, normally, this wouldn't be strange to Yuki, as he was part of the Sohmas that were cursed with the creatures of the Chinese Zodiac. This meant that whenever they were hugged by a member of the opposite sex, or came under a great deal of stress, they would transform into the creature they were cursed with. Yuki was cursed with the Rat, while his brother was the Snake, and the Rabbit was…

"Mo… miji?" Yuki started, looking surprised. Why was the 14 year-old German-Japanese Sohma transformed? Despite Yuki uttering his name, Momiji did not seem to hear, and rudely went on walking, looking carefully at a pocket watch. Yuki found this quite strange, as Momiji wasn't the sort to bother with watches, unless it meant that it was afternoon-tea-time.

Yuki, being a respectable young boy, decided that he should take it to be his duty to get Momiji back to his clothes before anyone saw the younger boy transform, and jumped to his feet.

"Hey, Momiji!" Yuki called out, but Momiji still did not seem to hear him. "He's like that." Yuki reminded himself as he quickened his pace to a run, for Momiji was running faster (If he had taken the time to think properly, Yuki would have remembered that Momiji, being a rabbit, tended to hop, but he wasn't in the right mind to think of that at this present time).

Fortunately, Yuki managed to keep a fair pace behind Momiji, just in time to see the rabbit pop down a large rabbit hole under the hedge.

In another moment Yuki had followed down after him, never for one moment considering if he would get his clothes absolutely filthy, or that Ayame might be missing him (Though he wouldn't have minded with that thought, really).

The rabbit-hole went straight on like a sort of tunnel for some way, then as Yuki turned a corner, he found himself falling.

Yuki immediately noticed how odd it was that he wasn't falling with much speed. He knew he was slightly built for a male, but surely if one was plummeting to their death, it would be a whole lot _quicker_, wouldn't it?

Trying to think of something to do about this, Yuki looked down to see what was at the bottom of this enormous pit, but he could see nothing, for it was very dark.

He turned to look at the sides of the pit, perhaps hoping to find a hook, or something to grab onto, to stop himself from falling, and rescue himself.

Although there was nothing that he could really grab a hold of, Yuki did notice that the sides were all covered in shelves. Upon these shelves was an odd assortment of things, ranging from Snail shells to a DVD set titled "Fruits Basket".

"How odd," Yuki thought "Naming a series 'Fruits Basket'." Of all the strangest names…

"Well," Yuki sighed, folding his arms, rather jaded "I wonder what that baka Neko Kyou will have to say about this? That I fell down a hole before he could attempt for his #7845th try at defeating me."

Yuki was rather amused at this, but then frowned "I hope that everyone takes care of Miss Honda, though. I wouldn't want her to come to grief, just because I am not to be around any more."

"And my garden! Unless Miss Honda is able to look after it, it will most surely wilt and become spoilt. What a waste of time!" Yuki decided at that moment that he wouldn't really like it if he died, as it had far too many disadvantages.

Yuki was _still_ falling after he had finished deciding this, and there seemed to be no end to the fall.

"Maybe I will fall right through the Earth!" Yuki exclaimed, then shook his head. That sounded _much_ too childish. Akito would have had a great deal to say about him now if he had been there. Yuki was rather glad that Akito wasn't.

"Still, if that _did_ happen," he mused "Then I would end up in a horribly unimportant place like Australia, where they all walk on their heads. How awful that would be!"

Down, down, down. As there was nothing much to do, Yuki continued talking to himself. "At least when I die, I won't have to worry about anyone like Ayame or Akito." Yuki tried to console himself. But although it was a comforting thought, Yuki still decided that he would much rather be alive.

He had begun to doze off, as he had nothing else to do, when Thump! Down he came on a large mattress.

It was a nice, soft one, and very springy. So much so that it caused Yuki to bounce back up to his feet on the ground in front of the mattress. Now, Yuki _might_ have wondered what a mattress was doing at the bottom of a giant pit, but he was much more interested in finding a way out.

Yuki looked upwards, almost hoping that the distance that he had fallen wasn't really that large. Alas, all he could see was darkness. Looking around the area he was in, Yuki could see a long corridor directly in front of him, and the Momiji-Rabbit was still visible, rushing down it.

Yuki, who was always an athletic person by default, wasted no time in chasing after Momiji. He was getting quite close once he reached a bend in the long passage, and almost imagined that he had heard the genki little Rabbit saying to himself "Oh dear! I'd _better_ not be late…" Momiji never really thought much about consequences, so this struck Yuki as rather odd.

Unfortunately, when he turned the corner, Momiji was no where in sight. He found himself in a long hall, much like one of the halls in the inner Sohma estate, which was lit by many ornate lamps hanging from the ceiling.

"How strange…" Yuki remarked to himself "Maybe I was just imagining falling down a pit." He tried a door, but it was locked fast, so he went to the second and tried again. Each and every one of the doors was locked. Once he had tried each door, Yuki moved to the center of the hall, feeling rather annoyed, and a little sad.

He really _had_ felt that he was going to meet up with Miss Honda, Kyou, and all of the others again. Although most of them were really quite annoying, Yuki did not want to be separated from them all forever.

Suddenly, he came across a little table, made of rose-tinted glass, with a small golden key upon it. Yuki quickly snatched up the Key, and tried it on the locked sliding doors. But either the keyholes were too big, or too small, and did not fit.

On his second time around, though, he found a low curtain that he had definitely not seen before. When it was pulled back, it revealed a little door, almost fifteen inches high. Yuki tried the key, and it fitted!

Opening the door, Yuki found that it led into a small passage, not much bigger than a mouse hole. He looked inside, and saw a lovely garden, with many lovely flowers, which he noticed to all be roses of a shocking bright pink colour. Yuki thought that it might even have a nice vegetable garden, which would certainly be wonderful to see.

But more importantly, he would probably be able to find someone who could tell him how to get out of here…

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Unfortunately, poor Yuki wasn't of the right size to fit into the small door. "Why, whenever I _don't_ want to transform, females tend to swarm around for some reason, yet now, there isn't even Miss Honda to aid me." Yuki commented, and then decided that if Tohru was _indeed_ there, then even if Yuki had transformed, little Tohru wouldn't be able to follow him, so it was a very bad idea indeed.

After pacing by the door for a while, Yuki, most annoyed, went back to that lovely little table, almost hoping that it would have another Key sitting upon it, or at the very least someone to talk to.

But this time, he found a little bottle on it (Which he was most sure hadn't been there before at all), and around its neck was a paper label, with the words DRINK ME printed on it in large letters.

Yuki, being a smart young man, knew very well not to follow signs that you did not know the authority of. For it was all well and good drinking from a foreign bottle, but who would know _what_ it could contain? Poison? Lemonade? That horrid tea that Ayame was so proud of? Yuki knew not to take any chances.

A good step to seeing if a drink is bad for you is to check its label, and see if it is marked "POISON". So Yuki did just that, turning it over to see what the contents were. Strangely, there was no Nutritional Value chart at all, but also nothing that said "POISON".

Normally, Yuki would still be suspicious of this, but as he was getting rather fed up with trying to find a way out, he decided that he had nothing else to lose, and took a large swig of it.

He recoiled immediately; for it was horribly sugary tasting, and decided that it must be one of those drinks that little Momiji was made to stay away from, lest he begin bouncing off of the walls.

The bottle was dropped quickly, and it fell to the ground, with a loud crash. Yuki was feeling decidedly odd.

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"Of all the stupid things…" he sighed, as he realized what was happening to him. He was shrinking, and quickly. He waited, with a rather appalled look on his face, until he had finished shrinking, by which he was only ten inches tall.

"First I fall down an enormous ditch, chasing after Momiji, and then when I drink this horrible cordial, I shrink." Yuki stated, looking most unhappy. His face brightened, though, when he realized that he was now small enough to fit through the door. Alas, the poor Nezumi had forgotten to take the little Key, which was still all the way up at the table.

He walked over to the table, and tried to reach the Key, but he did so in vain. The Key was up much too high for him to get at, and the thing that annoyed him the most was that he could see it quite clearly through the rose-tinted glass.

Yuki then thought that perhaps he could climb up one of the legs of the table, but it was much too slippery, and he could not get up at all.

Dejected, Yuki sat down, and wondered why it was him that was being subjected to such problematic nonsense.

"Because you are worthless, that is the answer." came a little voice not very far from him. In fact, Yuki was quite sure it was coming from his shoulder.

"What exactly are you talking about?" Yuki asked, feeling a little offended, and slightly even more dejected from that comment.

"I was answering your question." replied the voice matter-of-factly.

"I didn't _ask_ _anything_." Yuki said, sounding rather bothered. And it was very much true, for he hadn't asked for anything at all.

"Your thoughts, then." corrected the voice, which Yuki was beginning to dislike already.

"How could you know what I was thinking?" the Rat glared, not looking pleased at all, and tried to look at the voice, but found that he could not see directly where this creature was.

"I'm your conscience, naturally!" replied the voice, sounding pleased with itself "And I know _everything_ you're thinking about!"

Yuki didn't like the sound of this. "Who are you!" he said, a little quickly, and betraying the worry in his voice.

"I'm your conscience!" repeated the voice, sounding most irritated. The creature sprung up in front of him, for it had _indeed_ been sitting on his shoulder, and grinned at him.

If it weren't for common sense, Yuki might have had the horrible idea that this was Akito Sohma, head of the Sohma household, and one of his main tormentors.

However, he quickly decided that it was not, for aside from the unfortunate resemblance, this Akito was smaller than Yuki was at this point (After all, it _had_ managed to sit on Yuki's shoulder). It was currently sitting in mid-hover, with the aide of its raven-black chibi angel wings, looking bored.

"A… kito?" Yuki asked, making sure that is was indeed _not_ one of the people he really did not appreciate in the least.

"Oh, lovely. You know your conscience's name. How perfectly smart." replied the Akito-conscience, not sounding at all impressed. It seemed more impressed with the smudge of dirt on the sleeve of its Kimono, and busied itself with trying to rub it off.

"But what are you doing down _here_?" Yuki asked, knowing full well, with some relief, that Akito was rarely allowed to venture outside the Main Estate, let alone go for walks in parks and fall down holes.

Yuki's Akito-conscience raised one of its pencil-thin eyebrows, and Yuki was sure that it thought he was a complete idiot.

"Down here? I've been with you all the time, baka." Yuki's conscience replied, folding its arms "And besides, isn't this place where you've always been?"

Yuki was thoroughly confused by this, but remained firm on the idea that this was indeed _NOT_ the real Akito that he knew.

"Well, if you're my conscience, what should I do about getting out of here?" Yuki asked, looking skeptically at the chibi antagonist.

"How should _I_ know?" his conscience said, rolling its eyes "And why would you _want_ to leave? This is where you've been all your life!"

The Rat decided there and then that his conscience would be no help at all. He looked around, trying to ignore his conscience, which was looking unimpressed at its very best.

It was then that he noticed a small tray, not much bigger than he was tall, underneath the rose-tinted table.

Yuki walked casually over to it, being followed by his Conscience (What else is a conscience supposed to do, ignore the subject?), and found a small cake upon it.

"Since I drank that Red Cordial stuff," Yuki said, really to himself more than anyone else "And that made me much too small, maybe this will make me taller, and I can reach that Key, or I'll become smaller, and I can get under that door."

"I wouldn't do that, but do whatever, I don't really care." Akito-conscience pointed out, smirking wickedly.

Yuki ignored his conscience's warning, for Akito-conscience wasn't giving very helpful advice anyway, and took a large bite.

However, nothing happened, which left Yuki very disappointed. After all, nonsensical things had been happening all day, and he _had _really been expecting for something to happen. As he was quite hungry, he ate the entire cookie.

And his conscience watched him, snickering to itself…

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There is Chapter one finished! ˆ-ˆ

I had all of the characters figured out, except for Akito, so when I read the bit about Alice pretending she was two people, I thought "Yes! SOMETHING that Akito can be!" and made him be Yuki's conscience.

Anyway, I hope it's not too silly for you. I'll be reworking this when I have the time, and writing more at some stage. At some stage is the best I can offer, sadly. But please feel free to RR! I'm always happy for comments on improvement and the like.

Also, if anyone has any nonsense poems that they've made up that they could let me use (As Alice in Wonderland contains many nonsense poems), please let me know at be **very** appreciative!

Z-chan.


	2. The lake of a tear

The second chapter.

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Yuki-chan in Wonderland

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"Oh, this is just stupid!" exclaimed Yuki "Now I'm growing much too fast!"

And indeed he was. Once he had finished eating the cake, he had felt that same odd feeling that he had felt when he was shrinking, but the reality was very much the opposite! For now, Yuki was growing at an alarming rate.

"I can barely see my feet now!" the Rat-cursed-one sighed, looking much displeased. And indeed he couldn't, for they were not much more than a blur down on the ground.

"I suppose it will be quite difficult, now that I'm so tall." Yuki mused "I wonder if I could fit into a house ever again? And my gardening! I'll have to be very careful not to squash any of the strawberry plants."

"You've only yourself to blame." his conscience pointed out, making Yuki jump slightly. He had completely forgotten about it. The little Akito-conscience was perched on his shoulder again, and looked much the size of a fly to Yuki, as Yuki had grown so much.

Just then, Yuki hit his head on the roof, and his growing stopped. Yuki rubbed his sore head, then immediately kneeled down to take the key from the table (Which was most hard, for it was around the same height as his conscience, and his fingers could barely keep hold of it), and unlocked the garden door.

Poor Yuki! As much as he tried, he could hardly fit a finger through, let alone get through the door.

Feeling most upset, Yuki sat down and wallowed in his own self pity. Now, Yuki seldom _ever_ cried, but as he thought of the hopelessness of the situation, he let a single tear fall.

"How _embarrassing_." his conscience remarked, looking offended by Yuki's piteous state "You should really refrain from doing something like that, it's really embarrassing to be the conscience for someone who _cries_. Why, what would I tell the others at the annual conscience convention?" And at that point, Yuki's Akito-conscience began complaining to itself about his Nezumi charge.

Yuki decided to take no notice of the said conscience, for he was most annoyed with himself that he had shed a tear, even if it _was_ only _one_, and he had learnt quickly that things went smoother if he did not listen to the winged Akito look-alike.

He had been spending quite some time ignoring his conscience and trying to think of _any_ possible way of returning to a proper height, when he heard the pattering of little bunny feet in the distance.

"Hey, that'd be your friend, wouldn't it?" the Akito-conscience said, breaking out of his complaint-fest, and looking mildly interested.

"Well, it should be Momiji…" Yuki said, wondering what the little rabbit-cursed Sohma would say if he found Yuki much bigger than he had remembered.

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It was _indeed_ Momiji.

He was, strangely, _still_ in his Rabbit form, and was most splendidly dressed… for Momiji, anyway. Yuki recognized it to be the neon-pink jacket that Momiji had worn when he and Hatori Sohma had come to meet Yuki, Kyou and Miss Honda at the cultural festival. He was carrying a pair of kid gloves in one hand, and a bright fan in the other.

Momiji was scampering along, as if he was in a great hurry, and was muttering to himself.

"Oh, the Duchess!" he sighed, looking most worried "She'll be _so_ angry if I'm late… I _hope_ she won't be angry with _me_!"

His little rabbit's nose twitched a little at the thought of someone being angry with him. He didn't mind, usually, but he had a job this time, to be there _on time_ for his Duchess, and he did certainly _not_ wish to fail her.

Yuki found Momiji's actions a little strange, but he was so desperate that he would ask anyone for help, so in a small, awkward voice, he began "Momiji, would you know…"

Momiji, who was already a little nervy, started violently at the sudden speech and at the giant Nezumi-cursed one in front of him, dropped his fan and kid gloves, and rushed off as quickly as he could into the darkness as he ever could go.

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Yuki picked up the fan and gloves, and as it was quite hot in the hall, he madly fanned himself with the little fan all the while he was talking: "Really, how annoying this is! And just yesterday things were as normal as they could be in the family… Everyone is so different today! I wonder, am _I_ even the same? (To which his Akito-conscience replied "You may never know…") I suppose I never really thought I would be changing sizes so quickly.

"But suppose I'm _not_ Yuki Sohma anymore? It's a stupid thing to think, but so many stupid things have been happening, I can't be sure of anything anymore. So suppose if I wasn't myself. _Who_ would I be?

"I'm pretty sure I'm not that baka Neko Kyou, otherwise I would have to wear those stupid beads. I can't be Shigure, for his hair cuts in a much more different way, and I don't think I could be _half_ as bothersome as he could be. I'm _very_ sure I'm not my brother, as I don't think it would be possible to be as obnoxious as he could be, and I am _very_ sure that I am at least a little smarter than he is.

"Let's see, I'll see what I can remember: Six times eleven is sixty, and Twelve times six is Sixty-six. Oh! That can't _possibly_ be right! Well, for all of this nonsense, I would have clearly temporarily forgotten. How about Geography? The capital of Japan is China, and the capital of China is Perth- no, _that_ is certainly wrong, I'm very sure of it! Oh, this is quite contradictory to what I've said earlier! Hmmm, let's try English… I know, I'll try reciting a verse from **How**** doth the little**-" and he folded his arms and began to repeat it, but his voice sounded strange as he said it, and came out all wrong:

"_How doth the little crocodile_

_Improve his shining tail_

_And pour the waters of the __Nile_

_On every golden scale_

_How cheerfully he seems to grin_

_How neatly he spreads his claws_

_And welcomes little fishes in_

_With gently smiling jaws…_"

"I am _very much_ sure that those are not the right words," said poor Yuki, who was most disheartened "Maybe I _do_ have less brains than my brother. Or worse, I _am_ him, after all, and I will have to be an idiot and annoy poor whoever is Yuki now. Oh, I could _never_ do something like that! I would _hate_ myself for it!"

"Nice fit." remarked his conscience dryly, which made Yuki jump ever-so slightly, for he had completely forgotten about the little Akito-creature.

Yuki went to look at the creature that was again perched on his shoulder, and noticed that he had managed to put on one of Momiji's gloves while he had been talking to himself.

"How on earth could I have done _that_?" Yuki asked himself, then smiled slightly, having resolved it quickly "I must be growing smaller again." He got up and stood by the table to measure himself, and found that, as much as he could guess, he was now around two feet high, and rapidly growing smaller.

He quickly found that the cause of it was the fan, and he quickly dropped it before he disappeared altogether.

"Rather narrow escape." commented Yuki's Akito-conscience, who always remained the same size, and seemed not to care much in the least.

Yuki ignored his conscience, and smiled. He was able to try for the door again! He rushed over to the door at once, but, alas! the little door was shut again, and the key was somehow back up on the rose-tinted glass table as before.

"And things are even worse than before!" sighed the unfortunate Nezumi "Because I was never as small as I am now! Never!"

As he said these words his foot slipped, and with a loud splash! he found himself up to his chin in salt water. His first assumption was that he had fallen into a great ocean, ("It really has been _so_ long since I've been to the Beach, actually" he remarked) but soon realized that he was in the lake caused by that single troublesome tear that he had shed a while ago, when he was about nine feet high.

"I _wish_ I hadn't cried." Yuki sighed, swimming about a bit "Imagine it! To be drowned in one's own tears!"

"It _is_ your fault, you know that." his conscience pointed out, not looking in the least sorry for poor Yuki. _It_, on the contrary, was perfectly fine, sitting upon a little tea-plate, which was acting much like a boat.

"Couldn't you let me up on there too?" Yuki asked, hoping that his conscience would be pleasant at this moment. However, the Akito-conscience shook its head, smiling wickedly. Yuki realized then that even if this Akito _was_ a nice conscience, he would not be able to fit onto the plate.

For although it had not changed size at all when Yuki had grown, his conscience had become smaller, at least to Yuki, to match up with the general rule that consciences are usually smaller than oneself (For we usually always make more mistakes that are against our better judgment than follow advice).

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Just then, Yuki heard something splashing about in the pool a little way off, and he swam nearer to make at what at first he thought might have been a hippopotamus of some kind, but then he remembered how very small he was now, and how nonsensical everything was, and made out that it was only what looked like a normal human girl that had slipped in like he himself had.

"I wonder," thought Yuki "If it would be of any use to speak to this girl? She _is_ the first real human I have seen in a while (Which earned him a filthy look from his conscience, but was soon forgiven, as the Akito conscience remembered that he was a conscience, and not a real human anyway), and maybe she has an idea of how to escape from this realm."

So he carefully began: "Excuse me, Miss, do you know the way out of this pool? Because I'm getting a bit tired and I need to find the path out of this entire strange world."

The girl looked at him, blinking, and Yuki realized that she was not _entirely_ a real human. For although she had all the features of a normal human girl (She had a particularly rough look about her and long blonde hair, and most certainly reminded him of someone from his school), she also had two brown-orange extra ears, most pointed and rough-furred like a Kangaroo. He would not be half surprised if she had a tail also.

Still, the kangaroo-girl said nothing.

"I'm sorry, you don't seem to understand me-" Yuki began, before the girl cut him off.

"Nah, you don't seem to understand _me_" the girl contradicted, viewing the Nezumi with slight contempt. However, although Yuki expected her to go on, she did not.

"Ah, I'm sorry, what do you mean?" Yuki asked, looking slightly worried. He had no intent to offend anyone.

"Well, think about it," the girl began, and Yuki was sure she was folding her arms in the water "Here I am, mindin' my own business, when this jerk decides to move a lake here. So then I'm suddenly swimmin' for my life, and now _you're_ here telling me that I don't understand anything!"

"Oh, I'm very sorry." Yuki apologized, looking uncomfortable. He decided not to point out that it had been _him_ that had caused the lake, for this Kangaroo-girl seemed to be the sort that disagreed with much force to things that they did not like.

"Yeah, fine for you to say." She glared, then yawned "Well, I'd best be off."

And with that, she began to swim away, the ripples causing Yuki to almost lose his balance in the water causing him to cry out "Excuse me! Please come back!"

The Kangaroo-girl let out a large sigh, as if she was being put under such troubles, and turned around, reluctantly, and began swimming back towards him.

"What is it?" she snapped, apparently not in the mood to be poking about in the business of a mini-Nezumi such as Yuki.

"I'm sorry for being so rude" Yuki sighed "But I really need to find the way out of this place, and I am getting much too tired of swimming."

"Well, I guess I could do ya a favor…" the Kangaroo-girl said slowly, thinking it over.

"Oh, thank you!" Yuki sighed on relief, not in the very least in the mood for arguing with potentially lethal Kangaroo-women.

"Follow me, then" the girl ordered, and began swimming off, impatient.

Yuki swam after her, not really wanting to lose sight of a possible way to the shore.

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While he did so, he thought of all the odd things that had been happening to him.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Yuki sighed, looking quite discontented "If the gods are saying '**WELL, that Yuki Sohma doesn't have nearly _enough_ to worry himself about. A little adventure and confusion in his life would do him good!**' and are having a great laugh about it all."

"I like the sound of those gods." the Akito-conscience remarked, sailing along by Yuki. "_I'm_ a God, actually, didn't you know? Being a conscience and all, I suppose _I'm_ your God." It said, smirking in an overly lordly way, which Yuki disliked the normal-reality Akito for a lot anyway.

"No, you're a figment of my imagination." Yuki corrected, looking tired, and not being able to help noticing the odd vicious-looking Kangaroo swimming in the same direction as he was.

"Sent here to annoy you, I suppose?" the Conscience asked, raising his pencil-thin eyebrows.

"Surely." Yuki sighed, and swam ahead to come beside the Kangaroo-girl.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking at her "But I've quite forgotten your name."

"That's because I didn't _tell_ you it." the Kangaroo girl grumbled, sounding most bothered again.

"Oh," Yuki replied, looking uncomfortable again "Well, could I please know it?"

"Oh, sure," the girl replied, being joined up by a few fellow swimming Kangaroos (Though Yuki noticed that they were fully Kangaroo) "It's Arisa, but you can call me Uo-chan."

Yuki thought about this for a bit, as he stepped up onto the shore.

"Some fun this is." his conscience commented, perched up upon his shoulder yet again.

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Ack, I had meant to write a new, perhaps more Japanese poem for Yuki to stuff up, but due to lack of resources, time and sleep, I didn't get round to it. I shall hopefully do so in later chapters! '

See you all in chapter 3!

Z-chan.


	3. Of Kangaroos and a Caucus Race

The third installment.

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This world seemed to have a very large supply of Kangaroos, Yuki noticed.

As he and the odd Kangaroo girl who called herself Uo-chan had reached the shore, so had all of the other creatures, and they were now all sitting, dripping wet, angry and very uncomfortable together, complaining.

The first question, of course, was how they were going to get dry again.

They had quite a large debate about this, and after only a few minutes, Yuki found that he saw it quite natural to be talking to all of these creatures as if he had known them his entire life. He supposed that this was because of the entire Sohma family's relationship with animals, but he was no one to judge.

Indeed, he had already managed to have an argument (Which he very much regretted) with one of the larger Kangaroos (Yuki noted that all of the creatures seemed to be of the classification of that hopping Australian mammal, the Kangaroo, oddly enough), who seemed to think that the way to resolve an argument was to box the one you were displeased with firmly around the ears, which Yuki did not enjoy. He quickly decided that he did not need to have an argument with a Red Kangaroo.

At last, Uo-chan, who seemed to have some sort of authority among the quarrelsome Kangaroos, cleared her throat and said "Sit down, all of ya! _I'll_ find a way to get ya all dry."

Yuki and the Kangaroos, happy to see that something was going to be _done_, sat down immediately in a large ring, as Uo-chan continued.

Yuki was most careful to pay attention, for he was aware that if he stayed wet for much longer, he might catch cold and just _maybe_ (As things were being so frustrating lately) his asthma might resurface.

"Alright, ready?" Uo-chan asked, and was met with a simultaneous nod "Right, this is the driest thing I know, so listen hard!

'_Centuries of conflict had preceded the __Battle__ of __Hastings__. Both the Normans and the Saxons were descended from the Danes who between the fifth and eleventh centuries continually attacked, invaded and settled in __England__. In 911 a group of them moved across the channel to the __Seine__Valley__ where they were given land to live on by Charles III of __France_'"

"Ugh…" said Yuki's conscience, which had been blissfully quiet for the entire time, and it quite embarrassed Yuki. After all, it _was_ Yuki's conscience that was being so rude. Yuki had to admit that Uo-chan's recital was one of the most boring things he had ever heard, but he was always a polite young man, and he did not find his conscience's display very proper.

Uo-chan stopped her recital, turning towards Yuki's conscience very slowly. "Did you _say something_?" the Kangaroo-girl asked, narrowing her eyes at the minute raven-winged creature.

"Oh, no, not at all!" the Akito-conscience said hastily, not in the least wanting to be beaten up by something an awful lot larger than itself.

"I should hope _not_." Uo glared "Now listen!

'_They became known by the French as Northmen or Normans. Over the years their population expanded, merged with the French culture, acquired more land, and grew in power. In 1013, King Sweyn Forkbeard of __Denmark__…_'"

"How are you now?" she asked Yuki suddenly.

"As wet as ever, I'm afraid." Yuki sighed, sneezing once "Your speech didn't seem to dry me at all."

"In that case," said one of the larger and more important-looking of the Kangaroos, rather quickly, Yuki noticed "I move that we dump this idea for something more energetic…"

"You sure you know what you're sayin'?" asked another, smaller Kangaroo, irritably "Cause' you'd better not be waistin' our time."

"Of course." replied the larger, in a dignified tone "What I was going to say, is that we hold a Caucus-race."

"What, my I ask, is a Caucus-race?" Yuki asked, looking most confused. So many things were confusing these days!

"Well, the best way to explain it is to do it!" said the large Kangaroo. And immediately, the animals began readying themselves for the Caucus-race.

If you are a little curious, and have neither participated in Caucus-race, or read '_Alice__'s adventures in wonderland_', I shall explain here how it is done.

First, the racecourse is marked out ("The exact shape doesn't really matter" the larger Kangaroo pointed out to Yuki), and then all of the party is placed around the course, here and there. There is no "One, two, three… go!" or something along those lines. In stead, one can begin running at any time they like, and leave off when they like. Thus, it isn't really easy to know if the race is over or not.

However, when Yuki and the Kangaroos had been racing about for around half an hour, and were quite dry again, the largest Kangaroo suddenly called out "It's over! Stop!" and they all crowed around, panting, and asking that one important question, "But who has _won_?"

As it was taking the largest Kangaroo a while to decide this, a few smaller Kangaroos began an all-out brawl, and the middle-sized ones were refereeing and disagreeing horribly. Yuki was not sure weather to be pleased that he was dry again, or if he was to be uncomfortable to be so close to such quarrelling Kangaroos. His conscience, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying the arguments, but Yuki supposed that this was just the way it was: It _did_ resemble Akito slightly, after all.

"Alright, stop it, all of you!" the largest Kangaroo called out, and they all stopped fighting, save two of the smallest Kangaroos (Which Yuki supposed were wallabies of some kind).

"We," the Kangaroo declared "Have _all_ won, and must all have prizes."

This caused quite an excitement among the creatures, until one of them piped up (And was soon chorused by the rest of the group) "But who will give us our prizes?"

"_He_ is, of course." the largest Kangaroo declared, pointing to Yuki, who looked most shocked, and a little offended.

Unfortunately, he could not refuse, for the Kangaroos all crowded around him, shouting "Prizes, prizes!"

Yuki had no idea what to do, and he was most sure that the Kangaroos would beat him up if he did not give them something. He thought of giving them his conscience, and letting them all get their share, but the thought of one's conscience being torn apart did not really please Yuki.

In desperation, he dug his hands into his pockets, and came out with a small packet of rice balls (Luckily the water had not harmed them), that Tohru had insisted Yuki bring along with him. "You could share them with Ayame" she had suggested, sounding so pleased that the two brothers were going to spend time together, that Yuki had crossed out his resolve to escape Ayame even before they left the house.

"I really must thank Miss Honda when I get back." Yuki reminded himself, and then looked slightly downcast as he realized that he may _never_ return. Still, he had a problem to take care of at the moment, so he fixed his attentions on that, and began carefully breaking pieces for the Kangaroos, and handed them around for the prizes.

"I guess he should have a prize as well, ya' know?" Uo-chan said, after they had all received a piece, and there was nothing left over.

"Of course." replied her comrade, who immediately turned to Yuki "What else have you got?"

"Only an eraser." Yuki sighed, holding up one. He had pocketed it whilst at school, and forgotten all about it.

"It'll do." the Kangaroo decided "Hand it over."

All of the Kangaroos crowded around Yuki as the largest solemnly presented the eraser, gravely saying "We hope ya' like this elegant eraser, and accept it for ya' prize, cause' you're not gettin' anything else!"

After he had made this 'Important' speech, all of the other Kangaroos cheered. Yuki found this all rather laughable, but as he decided that he should not offend potentially violent Kangaroos, he bowed, and solemnly accepted the eraser.

The next thing to be done was to eat the Onigiri parts. This caused some noise and confusion, for some of the larger Kangaroos argued that their parts were smaller, and that the littler Kangaroos had larger pieces than they did, and the littler Kangaroos sometimes choked on the smaller parts, and needed to be patted on the back. Naturally, some of the Kangaroos began arguing again, and quite soon there was more boxing and kicking that Yuki tried to stay away from.

However, once it was over at last, they all sat back down in a ring, and asked Uo-chan to tell them another story (Which would hopefully not be as boring).

"It would be nice to know your history, really." Yuki pointed out, still quite sure that he had seen the Kangaroo-girl somewhere before.

"Mine is a long and sad tale!" Uo-chan sighed, turning to Yuki, who was sitting a little way away from the rest of the arguing Kangaroos, next to his conscience.

"It is really quite a long tail." Yuki remarked, trying to be polite, and wondering really what tails had to do with Uo-chan's history "Is it hard to wash?"

"You're pretty irrelevant." Uo-chan commented, looking most annoyed, thumbing her sandy-coloured tail behind her angrily.

"He always is." Yuki's conscience pointed out quickly, eager to cause a fight "You have _no idea_ what it's like, being his conscience…"

Yuki began grumbling to himself about small creatures that were most unpleasant to be with, and how unfair it was that his own conscience was acting against him.

"I see! Well, I've had just enough of all of ya'!" Uo-chan snapped, looking offended, and turning around, walked off sharply.

"Oh no! Please come back and tell us about you!" all of the Kangaroos and Yuki called out, but she had already left.

"What a shame it couldn't stay." sighed the Red Kangaroo that Yuki had argued with earlier.

"_I_ couldn't really care either way." said Yuki's conscience, which was rightly ignored.

"If that baka Neko were here, he'd be losing his temper _much_ quicker than that Kangaroo-girl." Yuki commented, wishing that he could find a way back to places where things made more sense.

"Who is this?" asked one of the smaller Kangaroos, a grey wallaby.

"Oh, Kyou." Yuki replied, folding his arms "He's the Cat of the Zodiac. He loses his temper often."

"A Cat, psh!" the Wallaby "We'd beat it up easily! He couldn't match up against _US_!"

And at that, all of the Kangaroos laughed, rather haughtily. Yuki was a little frightened of how confident they all sounded, but was not one to comment.

Suddenly, however, their laughter died, and they immediately jumped off in all directions, looking terrified. "Although not at that size!" one of the Kangaroos muttered as it sped past.

Yuki looked to where they were all running from, and saw an enormous shadow. It was very large, and the shape of a familiar feline…

It couldn't be Kyou! Yuki felt as if _he _would run away in an instant!

And he was just about to do so, when a little, annoying, chibi Conscience flittered up to him, and the shadow got smaller. As it neared him, Yuki could see that the creature was holding its hands in a certain way.

"Isn't shadow puppetry fun?" his Akito-conscience commented, smirking wickedly.

Yuki did not agree with it in the least, and probably would have scolded his conscience severely, had it not been for the sound of footsteps, nearing the two beings…

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This chapter is relatively short, so hopefully the next one shall be longer. ˆˆ'

We shall all hear more of that elusive rabbit Momiji, and meet two more characters of the Zodiac, albeit in a minor role, in the next chapter!

Please, everyone! Review! And nonsense poems would be greatly appreciated! If you have any, please contact me via the E-mail address on my profile. Later!

Z-chan.

Note: The Battle of Hastings speech is taken from the BBC website. My dad is interested big-time in Medieval things, thus, this was the first thing I thought of. ˆˆ'


	4. Tigers, Sheep and chibi Bunny Rabbits, o...

The fourth Chapter.

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It was Momiji, trotting slowly back again, and looking curiously about as he went, as if he had lost something important (Like a sweet of some kind). He was also muttering to himself, something like "The Duchess! Oh dear! I _do_ hope she won't be angry with me! Oh _nein_! Where _are_ they?"

Yuki guessed in a moment that he was looking for those gloves and the fan, and being a good-natured boy (Most of the time); he went looking around for them. Alas, they were no where to be found- everything had seemed to change after his swim.

In fact, the great hall, the glass table and the little door had vanished completely.

Very soon, Momiji noticed Yuki, and called out "Hallo, Mary-Ann, what _are_ you doing out here? Go run home this instant, and fetch me a pair of gloves and a fan! Quick now!"

And Yuki was so shocked, that he ran off at once in the direction Momiji pointed to.

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"Momiji mistook me for… ugh…" Yuki didn't think he wished to admit it. It was something that he had to constantly battle against. Unlike his elder brother, who seemed to enjoy it, Yuki wasn't at all comfortable in being told that he looked like a… like a…

"A girl. His housemaid, to be exact." Yuki's conscience butted into the Nezumi's thoughts. Yuki was, once again, surprised, as he had forgotten entirely about the annoying little creature. He quickly became annoyed again, however, when he noticed how the creature was sniggering to itself.

"He made a mistake, though a large one, that's all." Yuki said protectively, and at once realized that they had reached a large house.

'Large House' was much of an understatement: This place was more like a mansion than a house. But this didn't faze Yuki; after all, he _was_ part of the Sohmas, and was used to large households. The little Momiji owning a house might not be the most likely of things, at his current age anyway, but Yuki reminded himself that this place seemed to make no sense at the best of times.

On the door was a bright golden plate, which had 'M. SOHMA' engraved upon it with slightly milky highlights. Yuki went in without knocking, as he thought that if Momiji was going to be so rude to him, then he wouldn't mind much if Yuki went inside the house without knocking.

The cursed-one ran upstairs, wondering what should happen if he found the real, female Mary-Ann, and was thrown outside before he could find Momiji's fan and gloves.

"How stupid." Yuki sighed, to himself more than his _very_ unhelpful conscience "I'm taking orders from _Momiji_."

"I don't see why you ever listen to _Me_." his conscience complained, looking at its charge resentfully. "Really," it continued "I'm _trying_ to be helpful, and all you do is think about how irritating I am!"

"Have you ever thought," it spat, enjoying its moment of spite "About how annoying _you_ are! Just running off where you please, taking orders from everyone but your conscience who knows best!"

"Oh," Yuki murmured, feeling a little guilty "Well, what _should_ I be doing, then?"

"Hey, you can go jump off a cliff for all I care, little Nezumi." his conscience grinned, fluttering off to investigate something that interested him more than this hopeless charge.

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Yuki wasn't in a particularly good mood when he found Momiji's room. It was painted various bright colours, and his favorite sun-hat hung on the corner of a velvet-covered chair. A pretty array of flowers (Quite a few of them were lurid Pink Roses, Yuki noticed) rested in a lovely crystal vase. Yuki didn't care much about that, though. What he _did_ care about, however, was the single fan, and a couple of pairs of kid gloves, lying innocently on Momiji's bedside table.

The Rat quickly snatched up the items, and was about to leave the room, when he spotted a little flask, which stood near Momiji's Mirror (Or "Looking Glass", as one might say).

It wasn't labeled 'DRINK ME', like the last horrible concoction, but nevertheless, Yuki uncorked it, and put it to his lips.

"_Something_ is going to happen, when I drink this." Yuki reasoned to himself "Because whenever I do something that is traditionally simple, like drinking something, something odd happens." He quite hoped that it would make him taller again, for Yuki did not in the least seem interested in being so small for an extended period of time.

It _did_ make Yuki grow larger, and much sooner than he had counted on: Before Yuki had even finished half the bottle (Which tasted much like more of that Red Cordial stuff), he found his head pressing against the ceiling, and had to stoop down immediately to stop his neck from being broken.

Yuki quickly put down the bottle, saying to himself, "That's _definitely_ enough- I really _do_ hope that I don't grow anymore- I can't get out the door now, anyway!"

Unfortunately for the poor Juunishi, he went right on growing, and soon had to sit down to still fit in the room. But in another minute, even this was not enough, so he tried partially lying down, with one elbow against the door, the other out of the window, and one of his feet up the chimney.

"Now I can't do _anything_!" Yuki sighed, wondering how he was going to get out of this one "What _is _going to become of me?"

Luckily for Yuki, he did not grow any more. Nevertheless, it was _very_ uncomfortable. No wonder he wasn't very pleased!

"How strange this is;" Yuki commented to himself "I used to dismiss fairy tales as stories, and now I'm in one! Imagine, someone might one day write a story about me…

"Of course, that would be a silly idea." Yuki corrected himself "I don't really think anyone would be very interested in me…"

Yuki continued thinking on this subject for quite some time, and was eventually broken from this train of thought by a rather cross-sounding voice calling out.

"Mary Ann!" came a genki sounding voice "Mary Ann! Please get me my gloves, Mary Ann! I _reeeeeally_ need them!" Then came a pattering sound of little feet coming up the stairs. Yuki knew that it was Momiji coming up to open the door, and he glared, realizing it was Momiji's stupid drink that had placed him in this predicament in the first.

Presently, Momiji came up to the door, and tried to open it. Alas for Momiji, as Yuki's elbow was most uncomfortably pressed against it, the door would not budge. Yuki heard Momiji sigh, then brighten and say to himself, "I _know_! I'll go round and get in by the window! Yay!"

"Hmmm, just you _try_." Yuki thought to himself, and waited until his battle-perfect ears could hear Momiji just under the window. Then, he quickly made a grabbing motion. He did not get a hold of anything, but he heard a little shriek and a fall, and a crash of some sort. Yuki felt a little pang of guilt as he realized that it must have been a garden cucumber-frame. He had not intended on wrecking a vegetable garden.

Next came an angry voice- Momiji's –"Gardener, Gardener! Come here!"

Then came a voice that Yuki was _sure_ he recognized, but couldn't quite put his finger on it, "Well, of _course_, I'm here. I've just been digging for apples like you _told_ me to do. You _really_ should pay a little more _consideration_ for your staff, since _we're_ here, serving _you_, even if _you_ don't _deserve it_."

"Ah, yes, whatever." Momiji dismissed, nevertheless sounding rather unnerved from his gardener's rapid criticism "Here, please come and help me out of _this_! It _hurts_!" (Insert more sounds of broken glass here)

"Now, tell me Hiro-chan, what's _that_!"

"It's an _arm_, 'Your Honor'. _Anyone_ could see that."

"An arm? Really! I've never seen one that size! You're pulling my leg!"

"No, I'm _not_. It's an _arm_. You should _really_ be more trusting of your staff."

"Well, at any rate, that arm has no business here! It was _mean_! It hurt me! Get rid of it!"

There was a great deal of silence after this, and Yuki could only hear a great lot of whispering, and occasionally caught things like "Sure, _I_ don't like it. What _do_ you take me for?" "_Please_ do as I tell you!" and at last he spread out his hand, and made another little snatch, and with it came _two_ little cries, and more sounds of broken glass.

"Momiji seems to have a terrible lot of cucumber-frames. I never knew Momiji liked big gardens…" Yuki mused "I wonder what they're going to do _now_. As for the matter of pulling me out of the window, I wish they _could_! I don't want to stay here!"

He waited for quite some time without hearing anything, until there came the rumbling of cart-wheels, and the sound of many voices talking together. He made out the words: "Where's the other ladder? –Well, I only _had_ to bring one; Kisa's got the other one -Kisa! Come here! Come and put both of them up on this corner here, you two! –_I_ think we should tie them _together_ first –Ummm, they don't reach high enough, sir… -They'll be fine! Don't be so fussy! –_Don't_ be mean to her. Would _you_ like it if someone was like that to _you_? –Oh, fine, fine. Here, Kisa, catch this rope! –Mind that Loose slate! –Oh, it's coming down! Heads below!" (A loud crash) "Now _who_ did that? –I think it was Kisa! –_Don't_ be mean to her… Now, who's going down the chimney? –I'm not! My jacket will get dirty, and I _still_ have to meet up with the Duchess –Well, _I'm_ not! –Kisa shall go down –Here, Kisa! 'The Master' says that you have to _go down the chimney_. Be careful!"

"Oh, so Kisa is going to come down the chimney, is she?" Yuki said to himself. "Poor Kisa- everything seems to be put upon her! I don't think I would really want to be in her place: The fire place is going to be narrow, but I think I _can_ kick a little…"

Yuki drew his foot as far down the chimney as he could, and waited until he heard a little animal (He wasn't too sure what this Wonderland-Kisa was, but if she was named Kisa, he had a good idea…) scratching and scrambling about in the chimney close above him: then, saying to himself "That _must_ be Kisa," he gave one sharp kick, and waited to see what would happen next.

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The first thing he heard was a general chorus of "There goes Kisa!" then Momiji's voice alone "Catch her, you by the hedge!" then silence and another confusion of voices- "Hold up her head- Brandy now- _Brandy_! You _know_ she's far too young to drink alcohol!- Cordial then! –Don't choke her –How was it, Kisa? Are you alright? –Tell us!"

At last came a feeble, soft-sounding voice ("That's Kisa" thought Yuki) "Well, I-I'm not sure –No more, thank you, I feel better- All… all I can remember, is that something c-came up like a jack-in-the-box, and up I went, l-like a sky rocket!" And Yuki heard the sound of sobbing, to which the voice of Hiro began trying to soothe the creature.

"We will **BURN THE HOUSE DOWN**!" Momiji announced, sounding most fierce. Yuki quickly called out, as loud as he could, "If you do, I'll send everything I can think of after you!"

There was dead silence immediately (Aside from the occasional sobbing), and Yuki thought to himself, "I wonder what they're going to do _now_? If they had any sense at all, I guess they'd take the roof off."

After a minute or two, they began moving again, and Yuki heard Momiji say, "A barrowful will do, to begin with…"

"A… barrowful of _what_, exactly?" wondered Yuki, but soon did not need to wonder, for a moment later a shower of pebbles came rattling in at the window, and some hit him in his beautiful face.

"I'll put a stop to _this_," he said to himself, and shouted out "You'd better not do that again, you little runts!" Which Yuki thought was quite rude, but he could not stop himself at the time. This produced dead silence.

Yuki noticed with some surprise that the pebbles were all turning into little biscuits on the floor. "Maybe, if I eat one of those, it should make me smaller, because I can't possibly grow bigger!"

So Yuki swallowed one of the biscuits, and to his delight, he began shrinking. As soon as he was small enough to get out of the door, he ran outside, and found quite a large crowd of various creatures outside the house. The poor little Tiger (Who really resembled a little kitten more than a tiger), Kisa, was in the middle, being held up by a little Ram and a little Hare, and the Ram was giving her something from a bottle. They all made a rush at Yuki as soon as he appeared, but Yuki ran off as fast as his legs could carry him, and soon found himself in a thick wood.

"Well, at least I lost that Akito-creature…" Yuki commented, stopping to regain his breath.

As if Yuki had called for it, the conscience was now sitting on his shoulder. "I can see you missed me greatly." It said in a withering tone, and would not speak for quite some time, despite Yuki attempting to apologize.

"Well," Yuki said, sighing "I suppose the next thing I have to do, is grow to my right size again, and then find my way to that pretty garden…"

It sounded like a simple plan, and very easily laid out. The only problem was, Yuki had no idea how to do either.

He was pacing about for quite some time, trying to figure it out, when he came across a large mushroom.

It was about the same size as Yuki, and, when he looked under it, and on both sides of it, and behind it, it occurred to him that he might just go and see what was on top of it.

He stretched himself up on the tips of his toes, and peeped over the edge of the mushroom, and his eyes immediately met those of a creature, which _slightly_ resembled a large blue caterpillar, which had been cloud-watching, and taking no notice of him or anything else.

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Finally! I stayed up late typing this one! I hope you all like it! Get ready to meet one more Juunishi in the next chapter, and a lot of vague-ness!

Z-chan.


	5. Interview with a Caterpillar

The fifth chapter.

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The 'Caterpillar' and Yuki looked at each other for quite some time in silence. Yuki was _sure_ he had seen this creature before. But where?

Since this 'Caterpillar' didn't seem to be very talkative at the moment, Yuki took the time to try to remember where he had seen it. It resembled a human more than a caterpillar, really, as its features and body shape was like one. However, sprouting from its head, were two long, curly, blue antennae. Yuki wasn't sure what to classify the creature's hair under: Black or White? He couldn't be sure. It was wearing an electric blue dressing gown ("I suppose it is because it could still only be the morning, and this fellow is a late-riser." Yuki thought), with little minute wings sprouting from its back, and seemed to always have a vague expression on its face.

At last, the creature unfolded its arms, and addressed him in a indolent, sleepy-sounding voice, devoid of much personality.

"Who… are _you_?" said the 'Caterpillar'.

This was not Yuki's preferred opening for a good conversation. "I… I'm not really sure anymore." Yuki replied, feeling stupid "I mean, I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I've changed much too many times to know _who_ I am now."

"What… do you mean… by that…?" asked the 'Caterpillar', who Yuki realized reminded him very much of Haru Sohma at this present time "Explain yourself."

"I'm sorry, I can't really explain myself, Sir." apologized Yuki, wondering if this creature's name really _was_ Haru "Because I'm not myself, you see."

"I _don't_ see." replied the Haru-Caterpillar, yawning slightly, but never blinking.

"I'm afraid, Sir, that I can't really put that more clearly" Yuki said politely, frowning a bit "Because I can't understand it myself. This place is so strange! Being so many different sizes in a day is so _confusing_!"

"It… isn't." said the Haru-Caterpillar.

"Well, you're a Caterpillar, aren't you?" Yuki asked, thinking of a way to make it simple.

"Of course…" the creature replied, glaring at Yuki as if he had suggested something awful.

"Then I suppose," Yuki began "That you don't know what it's like to change size yet. You will, once you turn into a chrysalis, and then into… a butterfly?" Yuki stopped at this, trying to imagine Haru as a butterfly. He decided he couldn't, and continued "I suppose you'd feel a little strange, wouldn't you? Changing into a butterfly?"

"Not at… all." said the Haru-Caterpillar.

"Well, perhaps your thoughts may be different," Yuki sighed, looking a little bothered "but all I know is that it would feel very strange to _me_."

"You!" said the Haru-Caterpillar suddenly "Who _are you_?"

Which, brought them right back to the beginning of the conversation. Yuki decided that he did not appreciate this Haru-look-alike in the least, as he was most annoying for making such _very_ short and useless remarks.

He drew himself up, thinking that he looked assertive, and said, very gravely, "I think you should really tell me who _you_ are, first." ("I wonder if his name _is_ Haru" Yuki wondered, while he said this.)

"Why?" said the creature, more of a statement than a question, which confused Yuki thoroughly.

This was yet another puzzling thing, and since he couldn't think of anything to say, and he did not really enjoy being around this creature any more than he liked being around his own conscience (Which had fallen asleep on his shoulder, curled up in a lock of Yuki's hair), Yuki began walking off.

"Come back…" the Haru-Caterpillar called out, sounding a little displeased "I've… got something important… to say…"

This sounded a little promising, so Yuki turned and came back again.

"Keep your temper." Haru said.

"Is that all?" Yuki said very sweetly, stamping down his anger as best he could.

"No." the Haru-Caterpillar said.

Yuki decided he might as well wait, as he really didn't have anything else he could or had to do, and maybe after all the Wonderland-Haru would tell Yuki something useful. For some minutes the Haru-Caterpillar sat there, looking up at the clouds drifting by, before he finally looked back at Yuki, and said, "So… you think you've changed, do you?"

"I suppose I am." Yuki admitted. "I can't remember things as well as I used to, and I can't keep the same stupid size for ten minutes!"

"Can't remember _what_ things?" said the Haru-Caterpillar.

"Well," Yuki began, sounding a little embarrassed "I tried to recite '_How doth the busy bee_', but it all came out… odd!"

"Repeat '_You__ are old, Father William_," said Haru, folding his arms neatly.

"…That wasn't said right…" said the Haru-Caterpillar, the same blank expression still on his face.

"Not _quite_" Yuki sighed "Some of the words came out a little wrong. You must excuse me, my English isn't perfect…"

"It was wrong no matter what language it was in." his speaking-partner replied, looking at him matter-of-factly, and there was silence for quite some time.

Haru was the first to speak. "What size do… do you _want_ to be?" he asked.

"Oh, I don't really mind," Yuki quickly said "I just don't like changing so quickly without reason, you know."

"I _don't_ know." said the Haru-Caterpillar.

Yuki couldn't say anything. He had never been so contradicted in his entire life, not even when trying to exchange intelligent conversation with that Baka Neko Kyou, and he quite felt that he might lose his temper very soon.

"Are you happy now?" asked Haru, fixing his emotionless eyes on Yuki critically.

"Well, I _would really_ like to be a bit taller than I am now." Yuki sighed "Three inches isn't really a great size to be."

The Haru-Caterpillar's mood changed immediately. He narrowed his eyes, and sprang to his feet easily. "It's a damn _great_ size to be, shorty!" he snapped, making a fist, and glaring daggers into the poor Nezumi (He was exactly three Inches tall).

"I'm not used to it!" Yuki said quickly in a piteous tone. "I really wish these creatures wouldn't be so easily offended!" Yuki thought to himself.

"You'll get used to it." the Haru-Caterpillar said simply, and sat down, obviously calm again, and not ready to… beat the living daylights out of poor Yuki-chan.

This time Yuki waited most patiently for him to speak again. In a minute or two, the Haru-Caterpillar got up and yawned once or twice, adjusted the sleeve of his dressing gown, and shook himself. Then he got down off the mushroom, and walked away into the grass, calling out in vague sort of way as he went "One side will make you grow taller… the other side will make you grow shorter…"

"One side of _what_? The other side of _what_?" thought Yuki to himself.

"Of the Mushroom, Yuki-chan…" said the Haru-caterpillar, just as if Yuki had said it out aloud; and in another moment he was out of sight.

In about a minute, Yuki froze.

It occurred to him that he had not once told the Haru-look-alike his name.

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Yuki remained looking thoughtfully at the mushroom for a minute, trying to make out where there were two sides of it, and as it was perfectly round, he found this a very hard task indeed. However, at last he simply stretched his arms around the mushroom as far as he could reach and broke off a piece of either edge with his hands.

"Now, which one is which?" Yuki asked himself, and tried nibbling a bit on the right-hand side, and felt an awful, sudden blow underneath his chin. It had struck his feet!

Yuki was most shocked, and a little unnerved at the sudden change, but he realized that he must act quickly, and he set to work at once, nibbling at the other bit. His chin was pressed so closely against his foot that he hardly managed to open his mouth to fit a piece in, but eventually he did so, and managed to swallow a morsel of the left-hand piece.

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"Well, that seemed to work!" Yuki smiled, but his expression quickly changed to alarmed in another moment, when he found that his shoulders were no where to be seen: All that he could see, when he looked down, was an immense length of neck, and a great deal of trees, stretched out under him like a large leafy sea.

"This is most strange." Yuki commented, looking about "Where _are_ my shoulders?" He folded his arms as he said this, in a hope that he might notice this, but nothing happened, except for a little rustling below the leafy canopy.

As he found that he couldn't get his arms up to his head, he might as well try to get his head down to _them_, and was quite happy, if a little stunned, to see that his neck could bend around easily in any direction, like a serpent.

"This _does_ contradict all sensible thoughts of the human anatomy." Yuki commented, as succeeded in curving his neck down in a graceful zigzag.

He was about to dive down into the leaves, when a sharp his made him draw back in a hurry: A rather large pigeon had flown into his face, and was beating him violently with its wings.

This caused Yuki's Conscience to wake up, and it immediately detached itself from Yuki's hair, and flitted about, inspecting the situation, and muttering to itself.

"Serpent!" screamed the Pigeon.

"I'm _not_ a serpent" said Yuki, feeling most offended "Leave me alone!"

"Serpent, I say again!" repeated the Pigeon, but more in a subdued tone, and said with a sob "I've tried everything, but nothing seems to suit them!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Yuki said, raising one of his eyebrows.

"Hmph, as usual." remarked his conscience, glaring at Yuki with his midnight-pool eyes.

"I've tried the roots of trees, I've tried river banks, and I've even tried hedges," the Pigeon went on, without listening to either Yuki or his conscience "but all of those serpents, there's no pleasing them!"

Yuki was getting horribly curious as to what these Snakes from hell were not being pleased about, but he decided that there was no point in talking until the pigeon was finished ranting.

"As if it wasn't enough trouble _hatching_ the eggs," said the pigeon "but I must be on guard constantly from those serpents day and night! Why, I haven't slept at all for three weeks!"

"I'm very sorry that you've been annoyed…" Yuki said, and felt that he was beginning to understand what the pigeon was so distressed about.

"And just as I've taken to the highest tree in the wood" it continued, raising its voice to a shriek, "and just as I was thinking I would be free of the damn things at last, one comes wriggling down from the sky! Ugh, Serpent!"

"But I'm _not_ a Serpent, I tell you!" Yuki glared "I'm a, I'm a…"

"Well! _What_ are you?" said the Pigeon "I can see you're trying to invent something!"

"I'm… I'm a human." Yuki said, rather doubtfully, as he remembered how many times he had changed throughout the day.

"A likely story indeed!" snapped the Pigeon "I've seen a great deal of humans in my time, but none with a neck like that! Serpent, I say!"

"Why are the Serpents bothering you so?" asked Yuki quickly, trying to change the subject.

"Hmph! Trying to steer away from the truth!" accused the Pigeon, but nevertheless, answered Yuki's question "It's been terrible lately! Those Serpents, there never used to be quite as many! But now, now that the Queen has taken the throne, their population has risen threefold!"

"How could a new Queen ascending to the throne increase the population of Serpents?" Yuki asked, as this really did not make sense to him at all.

"It's because he cuts the taxes for all of them! Living is ever-so-much easier for those wretched Serpents!" replied the Pigeon, sounding most annoyed.

Something struck Yuki. "If it's a male, shouldn't he be a King?" Yuki asked, looking confused.

"Oh no, don't say that!" the Pigeon said urgently, quickly covering Yuki's mouth "No, no, he prefers to be called by the old title- Queen. It's an old tradition in his family, apparently. Something about an imperial cousin or something. Anyway, _never_ call him by any other title! You're lucky none of those damn serpents were around! They would report you, and you'd be missing your head very quickly!"

"Ah, well, thank you, I suppose." Yuki said, bowing his head down as slightly as he could.

"It was only because of my good will that I said so!" sniffed the Pigeon "I could have gotten rid of egg-stealing serpents like you easily, otherwise!"

"I am _NOT_ a Serpent!" Yuki glared.

"Hmph, and I suppose you wouldn't cheerfully steal my eggs, hmmm?" asked the Pigeon.

"Of course not!" Yuki snapped, half in anger, and half in irritation.

"He wouldn't eat them anyway," piped up Yuki's conscience, looking smug.

"And why not?" asked the Pigeon, sounding a little offended.

"Because he doesn't like rotten, raw eggs like yours!" answered Yuki's conscience, making a rude gesture, and looking most pleased with himself.

This angered the pigeon. "Well, be off then!" it hissed in a sulky tone, and settled down in its nest once again.

Yuki had it in his mind that he might scold his conscience, but as he wasn't it a very good mood with that wretched Pigeon, he decided that he would let it go, just this once.

Yuki crouched down in the trees as best he could, for his neck kept on getting tangled in the branches, and he had to stop and untwist it. After a while he remembered that he still had the two pieces of mushroom, and set to work at once, very carefully nibbling at each, until he was down to his usual height again.

It had been so long since he had been anywhere near the right size, but the Nezumi quickly got used to it, and began thinking of what to do next.

"I think," Yuki mused "that the next thing I should do, is find my way into that garden. I'm _sure_ there's someone who can help me get out of this stupid place in there!"

"Why would you want to leave?" asked his conscience "You've always been here."

Yuki decided to ignore it, and realized that he had suddenly come across a little house, about four feet high.

"Whoever lives there," Yuki said "I doubt they would be very pleased to see someone at _this_ size. They would be frightened to death!"

So Yuki began nibbling at the right-hand bit again, and did not venture to go near the house until he had shrunk to around nine inches high…

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Ah! Finally finished! Since I have to bring the book back to the library in a week, I'm typing these up fast. You'll probably get them later on, though, since it's good to have little breaks between chapters, but yes, I hope you are all enjoying this!

I certainly am! ˆˆ

And now, some illustrations! I love drawing, so I decided to draw the characters. Due to web-link restrictions, I have placed unnecessary spaces in the links. Please remove them, and take a look, if you wish!

Yuki's conscience: Yuki's conscience: http :www .deviantart. com/ deviation /16050879/

The White Rabbit, Momiji: http :www .deviantart. com/ deviation / 16848108/

His Staff, Kisa and Hiro: http :www .deviantart. com/ deviation / 16848812/

The… Mouse, Uo-chan: http :www .deviantart. com/ deviation / 16919754/

The Caterpillar, Haru: http :www .deviantart. com/ deviation / 16919436/

Michyo Saruwatari: Yes, the title, at least, is a take on Miyuki-chan in Wonderland. I had a feeling that I would like to do a Fruits Basket take on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and when I saw that manga title (I have yet to read the manga, but I have seen reviews), I decided to indeed write a fic.

Also, thank you all of you for your kind reviews so far!

Z-chan.


	6. Cats, Duchesses and a lot of pepper

The sixth chapter.

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For a minute or two, Yuki stood, staring at the house, and wondering what exactly to do next, when suddenly a Footman in livery came running out of the woods- (He supposed it was a Footman because he was in livery, and things rarely made sense. If this was a place where things were to make sense, Yuki would have said he was a fish) –and rapped loudly on the door.

It was opened by another Footman in livery, with a round face, and large eyes like a frog. They both had powdered wigs on their heads, Yuki noticed. He was rather curious to see what was going to happen, and crept closer to listen.

The Fish-Footman produced a large letter from his coat-pocket (How exactly, Yuki was not sure, for the letter was almost the same height as the Footman himself) and handed it to the other, saying in a most serious tone, "For the Duchess. An invitation from the Queen to play croquet."

The Frog-Footman Footman nodded, and repeated in the same solemn tone, changing the words slightly "From the Queen. An invitation for the Duchess to play croquet."

They both bowed low, so to the effect that their wigs got entangled together.

Yuki put his hand to his mouth in a lame attempt to stop himself from laughing, so his laughter ended up sounding like someone being smothered.

Unfortunately, Yuki's conscience did not see a reason to be quiet, and for such a small creature, he really did laugh rather loudly. Yuki had to take his conscience by the wings and duck behind a bush, trying to keep it quiet, lest the footmen heard them.

When Yuki popped back up from the bushes again, the Fish-Footman had left, and the other was sitting on the lawn, staring stupidly up at the sky.

Yuki, now even more curious, went up to the door, and timidly knocked.

"There's no point in knocking," said the Footman "and that is for two reasons. Firstly, because I'm on the same side of the door as you are, and secondly, because they're making so much noise in there, no one could possibly hear you."

And certainly there was a most terrible din going on within- a constant howling and sneezing and every now and then a great crash, as if a dish or kettle had been broken to pieces.

"Then how am I going to get in?" Yuki asked the Footman, wishing terribly that things did not have to be _quite_ so difficult around these places.

"There might have been some sense in your knocking" went on the Footman, completely ignoring poor Yuki-chan "For if you were _inside_ and you knocked, I could have let you out, you know." He was looking up at the sky the whole time he was saying this, which Yuki found rather rude, and very stupid.

"I suppose he can't help it" thought Yuki "Because his eyes are so close to the top of his head."

"I think I will sit here," the Footman remarked "until the next day."

At this point, the door flew open, and a large plate came skimming out, straight at the Footman's head: it only grazed his nose, however, and broke to pieces against one of the trees behind him.

"-Or the next day, perhaps." the Footman continued in the same tone, exactly as if nothing had happened.

"_How am I going to get in_!" asked Yuki again, in a louder tone, getting irritable.

"The question is really," the Footman stated "Is: _are_ you to get in at all?"

It did have some sense, but Yuki did not really need to know this. "_WHY_ must all of these creatures disagree with me!" Yuki muttered to himself (To which his conscience replied with something a little rude) "It's enough to drive anyone mad!"

The Footman decided that it would be good for him to repeat his phrase, and remarked "I shall sit here, on and off, for days and days…"

"But what am _I_ going to do?" said Yuki, glaring.

"Anything you like." said the Footman, and began whistling.

"Oh, there's no use talking to _him_" sighed Yuki "he's perfectly idiotic!" And he opened the door himself and walked in.

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The door lead into a large kitchen, which was full of smoke from one end to another: the Duchess was sitting on a three-legged stool in the middle, nursing a baby, and the cook was leaning over the fire, stirring a large cauldron which seemed to be full of soup.

It struck Yuki as very odd.

The Duchess, for one thing, reminded him greatly of someone back home. She had long, glossy brown hair, tied back with ribbons around the back of her head, and had large blue eyes, which implied she was just a little empty-headed. Yuki could have sworn that this girl, dressed in a rather important-looking dress, was Tohru. The only difference was that she seemed _very_ cross indeed.

The baby the Duchess was holding had her eyes screwed up, but it was no mistaking that swirl of darker brown hair on her head. He only wondered if his guess was correct. The cook, to Yuki was no other than Rin, though she looked rather cross, and had most of her lovely black hair tied back, to keep it out of the soup.

"There's certainly too much pepper in that soup!" Yuki said to himself, as well as he could without sneezing.

There certainly was too much of it in the air. Even Duchess Tohru sneezed occasionally, and the baby was sneezing and howling alternately without a moment's pause. The only things in the kitchen that didn't sneeze, was the cook, and a large orange Cat that was sitting on the hearth, and grinning smugly to itself.

"Could you tell me, please," Yuki asked, looking a little embarrassed, and glaring at the Cat, which he did not like in the least "why your Cat is grinning like that?"

"It's a Cheshire Cat," said the Duchess, with the same voice as dear Tohru, but not near as much kindness "and that's why. Pig!"

She said the last word so suddenly and angrily that Yuki jumped; but then he saw that she was talking to the baby, and not to him, so he took the courage, and went on again.

"I didn't know that Cheshire Cats always grinned; In fact, I didn't know that there _was_ such a thing as a Cheshire Cat."

"Then you don't know much" snapped the Duchess "And that's a fact."

Yuki did not really like the tone of this remark, and thought it would be better to change the conversation to a different subject.

While he was trying to think of one, the Cook took the cauldron of soup off of the fire, and at once began throwing everything within her reach at the Duchess and the baby- the fire irons came first, then a shower of saucepans, plates and dishes.

"I like that girl's attitude." Yuki's conscience mused, once again sitting upon Yuki's shoulder. Yuki had become used to ignoring it, so he went on looking in horror, and hoping that Duchess Tohru and her odd little child did not come to harm.

However, the Duchess took no notice whatsoever, and the baby was howling so much that it was hard to tell weather it had come to harm or not.

"Oh, _please_ be careful!" exclaimed Yuki, jumping up and down in agony of terror. "Oh, there goes the baby's _precious_ nose," as an unusually large saucepan flew close by, and very nearly carried it off.

"If everybody minded their own business" Duchess Tohru said in a low growl "the world would go round _much_ faster than it does!"

"Which wouldn't be a good thing," said Yuki quickly "the world goes around much too quickly anyway. Why, there's only 24 hours in a day, and that's _much_ too fast for me!"

"Oh, d-don't tell me!" said the Duchess "I could never abide figures!" And she began nursing her child again, and singing a sort of lullaby to it as she did so, and giving her a violent shake at the end of each line:

"_…Speak roughly to your little child,_

_And beat it when it sneezes!_

_It only does it to drive you wild,_

_Because it knows teases…"_

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CHORUS

(In which the Cook and the Baby joined in)

_"Wow! Wow! Wow!"_

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_"I speak severely to my child,_

_I beat her when she sneezes;_

_For her to enjoy, she must be mild,_

_And take pepper when she pleases!"_

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CHORUS

"_Wow! Wow! Wow!_"

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"Here, you can look after her, if you want!" Duchess Tohru said to Yuki suddenly, throwing her child to him so quickly that Yuki stumbled to catch her.

"Now, I have to go and get ready to play croquet with the Queen- I wouldn't want to be late!" and she hurried out of the room.

Rin threw a frying pan after her as she went out, but it only just missed her.

The poor little baby was snorting like a steam-engine, and kept doubling herself up and straightening itself out again, so that for about a minute, all that Yuki could do was hold her.

As soon as he figured out how to nurse it (He found that holding her by one of her ears, and one of her feet, so that she couldn't straighten out again, proved most effective), he took her outside.

"If I don't take her away with me," thought Yuki to himself "They're sure to kill her in a day or two: It would be murder to leave her behind!"

He said the last words out loud, and the little child grunted in reply (It had stopped sneezing by now). "Don't grunt," said Yuki "It's not a proper way of expressing yourself. You'll turn out like that baka Neko if you don't be careful."

The baby grunted again, and Yuki looked anxiously down to see what was the matter with it. Now that he could see the baby up close, he was most sure that she did not look very comfortable at all, and did seem to have a _very_ turned up nose, when he thought about it.

Then, just as Yuki was thinking about what he would do with the baby, there was a little puff of smoke (Accompanied by a little 'Piyu!' sound), and the little baby looked much more like a little wild boar than anything else.

Yuki felt a little stupid, so he set the creature down, and was quite happy to see it trot off quietly into the wood.

"I suppose it _was_ a strange version of Kagura after all," he mused "She must have been _very_ stressed, due to all of that pepper."

"Or the fact that she was around someone like you…" commented his conscience, fluttering beside Yuki.

"I've had enough of you! Be quiet!" Yuki ordered, glaring at his conscience. Oddly enough, even though his conscience was opening and closing its mouth, no sound seemed to come out. It did not like this one little bit, but as there was nothing to do about it, he resumed sitting back down on Yuki's shoulder.

Yuki was feeling a little pleased about this, and was quite startled when he saw the Cheshire Cat sitting on the bough of a tree a few yards off.

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The Cat stopped grinning as it saw Yuki nearing it, and merely glared, flexing its claws. Yuki saw that it wasn't very pleased, so he supposed that even though he disliked it (The reason of which Yuki had no idea), he should try to treat it with respect.

"Little Neko," Yuki began, wondering what exactly its name was "Where should I go from here?"

The Cheshire Cat swished its tail once, and in a puff of smoke (With yet another 'Piyu!' noise), there was an orange-haired boy, roughly around Yuki's age, sitting on the branch of the tree (Of course, as this world seemed to make no sense according to the usual rules, he was wearing clothes) instead of the Cat. The only relation to the Cheshire Cat that this boy resembled, was the orange hair, and two pointy orange cat ears that seemed to sprout from his head.

"That depends on where you have to go, baka Nezumi." replied the boy, not sounding very friendly at all.

"Excuse me," Yuki said, trying to refrain from wanting to hit the boy "But please do not call me that. I don't care where I go-"

"Then it doesn't matter where you go!" said the boy quickly.

"-So long as I get somewhere!" snapped Yuki, wishing desperately that the creatures were not quite so irritable around these parts.

"Well, of _course_ you're going to get somewhere- as long as you walk far enough, damn Rat!" retorted the boy, making a fist at the poor maligned Nezumi.

Yuki bit down his frustration for the thousandth time, and asked, with forced pleasantness "What sort of people live about here?" For there was a fork in the road, just under the Cheshire Cat-boy's tree.

"Well, in _that_ direction" said the boy, dulling a bit, and waving his hand towards the right path "Lives a Hatter; and in _that_ direction," he said, waving the other hand "lives a March Hare. Visit either one you like: they're both mad, I swear!"

"I'm not sure I would like to visit any mad people." Yuki remarked.

"Oh, you can't help that," smirked the boy, looking down upon the Nezumi "we're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad… especially you."

"How can you know _I'm_ mad!" asked Yuki irritably.

"Well, you damn must be," said the boy "otherwise ya wouldn't be here!"

Yuki did not think that this proved this at all, but he went on "Then how do you know if _you're_ mad?"

"Well, for one thing, you'd agree that a dog isn't mad? They can be _stupid_, but not mad, yes?" said the boy, folding his arms, and kicking his feet up against the trunk of the tree.

"I… suppose so." Yuki said, thinking that indeed, Shigure was not deemed mad. Yet.

"Well then," continued the boy "You see, a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now,_ I_ growl when I'm happy and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore, I'm mad."

"Isn't it purring, not growling?" Yuki asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Eh, whatever." the boy dismissed, then asked "Hey, are you playing croquet with that damn Queen today?"

"I suppose I wouldn't mind" Yuki said, brightening a little, now that the Cheshire-boy wasn't being so disagreeable "But unfortunately, I haven't been invited yet."

"You'll see me there." said the boy simply, and vanished, without so much as a wisp of smoke, like in a magician's show.

Yuki wasn't very surprised at this: things were always so odd and out of place here that he had become quite used to strange things happening. While he was looking at the place where the boy, which he decided reminded him decidedly of that baka Neko Kyou, had been sitting, the boy in question appeared again.

"Oh yeah, what happened to that kid?" asked the boy, looking a little nervous for some reason "I almost forgot to ask."

"She turned into a Pig." Yuki said, starting to realize why the boy sounded a little nervous.

"I thought she would." replied the boy, and vanished again.

Yuki waited a little while, expecting him to reappear again, but he didn't, so Yuki walked on into the direction that the Kyou boy had pointed towards, where the March Hare was supposed to live.

"I've seen a Hatter before," said Yuki to his conscience, who glared at him "But I haven't seen a March Hare, and as it is July, maybe he won't be raving mad."

As he said this, he looked up, and there was that boy again, sitting on the branch of a tree.

"Oh yeah," said the boy "did ya say pig, or fig?"

"Pig, baka Neko" Yuki snapped, and walked on.

When he looked back, he could see the Neko-boy slowly disappearing, but different parts at once, so that the last thing left was his smug grin.

"How odd." Yuki remarked "I've seen a Cat, or even a boy, without a grin, but a grin without a cat? Never!"

He had not gone much further until he came in sight of the house of the March Hare: he thought it must be the March Hare's house, because it had two large rabbit-ears poking out from the roof. It was such a large house, that Yuki didn't go near until he had nibbled some of the left mushroom until he was about two feet high.

Even then he walked up towards it, rather timidly, saying to himself "I hope it isn't raving mad after all! I almost wish I'd gone to see the Hatter instead!"

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And there's the 6th chapter done! Hope you like it!

Thanks again for all of the nice reviews, I appreciate them!

Now, some pictures! (I'll have Rin's up next time she makes an appearance):

The Cheshire Cat: http :www .deviantart. com/ deviation / 17319651/

The Duchess: http :www .deviantart. com/ deviation / 17212216/

Z-chan.


	7. A Yuki mad Tea party

The seventh chapter.

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There was a long table set out under a tree in front of the house, and a large group of girls were sitting around it, having tea.

Yuki, as he neared them, recognized them to be a few of the girls that attended the same school he did. Each girl was wearing a Magical girl Cosplay uniform (The frilled sort, you could imagine) in various colours, and had all different sorts of animal's ears on headbands atop of their heads.

Rabbits, Tigers, Cats, Dogs, Monkeys… all sorts of ears. This was, of course, natural, as Magical girls usually had animals fused with them, sometimes for no reason at all.

The table was a large one, but all of them were crowded around one end. "No room!" snapped the head of the girls, who was wearing a great deal of hats (Yuki deduced that she must be the Hatter that the Kyou boy he had met had referred to), without even looking up. The rest of the girls echoed this as soon as the head girl started, also without looking up.

"Well, if you say so…" Yuki sighed, and was about to leave, when the Hatter finally deigned to look up at their intruder.

Her expression changed immediately. "Oh no! There's _plenty_ of room here!" she called out quickly, beckoning madly for Yuki to return.

As all of the other girls noticed poor Yuki-chan as well, they immediately began shouting at once, so Yuki only caught parts of it "Yuuuuki! -Please, don't go! –We're sorry! –Please, come sit with us! –Have tea! –Please, Yuki! –There's enough room! -We can spare a seat!"

All of this thoroughly frightened the Nezumi, and it struck him as quite odd that all of these strange world's creatures knew his name, but so as not to be rude, he sat down in a great armchair, and looked around.

"Have some sake!" encouraged one of the other girls, who was sitting nearest to him, and was sporting Dog ears.

Yuki looked all around the table, but all there was, was a great deal of tea. "I don't see any Sake." Yuki remarked, looking most puzzled.

"There isn't any." smiled the girl at him dreamily, rather preoccupied.

"Then it wasn't very polite of you to offer it." Yuki glared, thoroughly sick of creatures with such bad manners.

"_YES_." agreed the girls near the Dog-eared girl, glaring at her viciously, as if they were ready to tear her to shreds.

"Oh, ah, sorry." said the girl quickly, blushing, and as the girls glared her down, she exchanged places with the girl furthest away from Yuki.

"Your hair needs cutting." said the Hatter, but immediately wished she had not. It might _offend_ Prince Yuki! She had not said anything since Yuki had sat at the table, as she was carefully trying to figure out what to say to such a dashing boy as Yuki. Still, she had messed up.

"You shouldn't make personal remarks like that;" Yuki scolded her, looking rather annoyed "It's very rude."

The Hatter opened her eyes very wide upon hearing this, and looked urgently at her fellow cosplay-girl that was sitting next to her for backup.

The bunny-eared girl saw _her_ chance to impress Prince Yuki, and opened her mouth to compliment him. However, all that came out was "Why is a raven like a writing-desk?"

Yuki looked thoroughly puzzled again, but then smiled. "I can have some fun now!" he thought "I'm glad they've begun asking riddles- I believe I can guess that," he added aloud.

"D-do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?" stammered the ecstatic cosplay-girl.

"Exactly," answered Yuki simply.

"Then you should say what you mean!" blurted out one of the other girls, looking horrified.

"I do," Yuki hastily replied "at least- at least I mean what I say- that's the same thing, you know."

"Not at all!" laughed one of the other girls, whose expression crumbled immediately, but she could not help going on "You might just as well say that 'I see what I eat' is the same thing as 'I eat what I see'!"

"You might just as well say," added another cosplay-girl, looking mortified, but continuing "that 'I like what I get' is exactly the same as 'I get what I like'!" And she broke down, and began crying.

The party fell silent for a minute, while Yuki went over everything that he could remember about Ravens and writing-desks (Which really wasn't much), and was completely oblivious to the cosplay-girls, who, save for the one that was crying, were all eyeing Yuki-chan.

The Hatter was the first to break the silence. "What day of the month is it?" she said, sounding confident.

Yuki considered this for a moment, before answering "The twenty-first."

"_Two days_ wrong!" laughed the Hatter nervously, taking out her watch, and glaring at the Bunny-eared cosplay girl "I _told_ you that butter was no good for this watch!"

"I-It was the _best_ butter." replied the Bunny-cosplay girl meekly, looking as if she herself had no idea what she was saying.

"Yes, yes," agreed the Hatter, still sounding completely nervous "but some crumbs must have got in as well. Y-You shouldn't have put it in with the bread-knife" At which, she nodded, deciding that it sounded almost _half _correct, even though Yuki was looking at them as he began to understand why the Kyou-boy had told him that they were mad.

The Bunny-cosplay girl (Who Yuki was beginning to suspect was the March Hare) took the watch gloomily and looked at it, then abruptly dipped it in her tea, and took it out again: but she could not think of anything better to say than her first comment, "It was the _best_ butter, you know."

Yuki had walked over and was now looking over her shoulder while she did this, with some curiosity.

"What a funny watch!" he remarked "It tells the day of the month, yet doesn't tell what o'clock it is?"

"Why should it?" blurted out the March Hare, quite freezing up with fright from Prince Yuki being so close.

Yuki was quite puzzled by this comment, so he had nothing to reply to her.

"Have you guessed the riddle yet?" asked the Hatter, looking a little more confident now.

"No," Yuki sighed "I give up. What's the answer?"

"I have no idea." said the Hatter.

"Nor do I!" trilled the other cosplay-girls.

Yuki sighed exasperatedly. "I wish you people would stop wasting time," he said, "by asking riddles with no answers."

The girls all shuddered, their expressions changing to near fear. "Oh no," one of them piped up "If you knew Time as well as _we_ do, you wouldn't talk about wasting _it_. It's _her_." And they all shuddered again at the mention of this enigma.

"I don't know what you're talking about…" Yuki said, looking puzzled yet again.

"Of course you wouldn't!" another said, in a low voice "I don't suppose she's ever tormented _you_…"

"I suppose not," Yuki replied "but I know that you have to beat time when you're learning music."

"I can't believe she puts up with it!" one of them commented, then smiled a little "Then again, it _is_ the Prince…"

"If you didn't beat time," the Hatter explained "she would probably let you do anything you wanted with the clock. Imagine if you were about to go to a boring meeting or something of the sort. You could whisper into Time's ear, and she could switch it to much later, like seven o'clock- time for dinner!"

("I only wish it _was_," sighed the March Hare quietly)

"That would be useful, I suppose" said Yuki politely "But I wouldn't be very hungry."

"Oh, but you could keep it at seven o'clock for as long as you wanted, until you were!" laughed the Hatter, happy to be useful to the Prince.

"Is that the way _you_ all manage?" asked Yuki, looking about at all of the Cosplay-girls.

The Hatter sighed, and looked over at a large medieval-looking chair at the other head of the table, which seemed to have a dark aurora surrounding it. "Not I!" she replied "We quarreled last March- just before _she_ went mad, you know-" (She pointed her spoon at the March Hare) "-It was at a great concert given by the Queen of Hearts, and I had to sing:

'_Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!_

_How I wonder where you're at!_'

You know the song, perhaps?"

"I've heard something like it," Yuki nodded.

"It goes on, you know," said the Hatter excitedly "in this way:

'_Up above the world you fly,_

_Like a tea-tray in the sky._

_Twinkle, twinkle-_'"

She was interrupted by a voice which seemed to come from the ominous chair. "That's enough." ordered the voice of foreboding.

"Well, I had hardly finished the first verse," the Hatter went on quickly "When the Queen jumped up and shouted, 'She's Murdering time! Arrest her!'"

"How savage!" exclaimed Yuki, as he thought "And just for singing a song!"

"And ever since that," the Hatter went on, looking at the gothic-looking chair woefully "She won't leave us alone, and orders us about as she pleases! It's always 6 o'clock now."

A thought came into Yuki's head. "Is that why there is such a great deal of tea-things set up here?" he asked.

"Yes, that's it," said the Hatter with a sigh "It's always tea-time here, and we've no time to wash things in between."

"But what happens if you come to the beginning again?" Yuki ventured to ask, thoroughly curious.

"Suppose we change the subject," yawned one of the other cosplay-girls, glaring at the Hatter, who all of the others thought was _much_ too greedy "I'm getting a little tired of this."

"And so am _I_." said that same voice that had interrupted the Hatter's tale earlier, sounding _most_ acidic.

Most of the girls, looking frightened, fell off their chairs, hoping that Yuki might catch them (He wasn't fast enough, sadly).

A dark-haired girl stood up out of the surrounding darkness of the chair. Her long black, glossy hair fell down in cascades over her shoulders, and she held a staff in one hand. What was the most noticeable about her, however, were her eyes. They seemed like they were… devoid of a soul… or whatever dramatic phrase you would like to use. The only thing that looked out of place was the pair of cosplay mouse-ears.

"You. You've been talking and talking…" the girl sighed, folding her arms, and glaring at the cosplay-girls "And it's rather _annoying_. Very annoying…"

"Eheheh…" laughed the girls nervously, almost at exactly the same time, and trying to scramble away from there as fast as they could.

"I see…" said the girl, turning to a rather frightened Yuki "that they have been causing… trouble with your quest… Am I correct?"

"Oh, no, no they were fine!" Yuki smiled nervously. The girls made mental notes that not only was their Prince lovely and handsome, but kind as well, and that they should pay more worship to him later.

"Of course not, don't be stupid," sighed the girl "You'd best be off, to continue your journey. For you must, otherwise terrible things will happen. Terrible things… I'll see to them…"

Yuki dared not object, so be began walking off into the forest again. He looked back once, to see if they might call him back, and saw that the girl was following the cosplay-girls around the table, her staff crackling with electric energy.

"I don't think I'll go _there_ again!" said Yuki as he picked his way through the wood "For I must admit, it was the _stupidest_ tea-party I have ever been to in all of my life!"

Just as he said this, he came across a tree with a door in it. Yuki's conscience, who had kept quiet the whole time (For Yuki had somehow made it strike dumb), only folded its arms in dismay, for it had been trying to make Yuki go to this very tree the entire time. Yuki ignored it, naturally. "How strange," Yuki commented, examining the tree, and went inside straight away.

When he walked inside, he found himself in that same hall, with the rose-tinted table. "I'll manage _much _better this time," Yuki smiled, and began by taking the golden key from the table and unlocking the door that led into the garden.

Then he set to work nibbling at the mushroom (He had kept a piece of it in his pocket) until he was about a foot high, and _then_- he finally found himself in the beautiful garden, among the bright flower beds and cool fountains.

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I finished this chapter quite some time ago, but it took me a little longer to complete the illustration, sadly.

Here it is (Again, remove the spaces): htt p/www .deviantart. com/ deviation/ 19436153/

Hope you enjoyed this one- it was probably one of the only chapters that didn't take too long to type up! The eighth chapter presents the enigmatic Kingdom of Hearts! Fanfare blasts

Z-chan.


	8. Croquet with the Queen

The eighth chapter.

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A large rose-tree stood near the entrance of the garden: the roses growing on it were white, but there were three gardeners by it ("They look rather serpentine…" thought Yuki), busily painting them a dazzling pink.

Yuki thought this was very odd, and came closer to watch them, and just as he came up he heard one of them say "Look out now, Five! Don't go splashing paint about like that!"

"I couldn't help it," said Five, in a sulky tone "Seven jogged my elbow."

On which seven looked up and said "That's right, Five! Always lay the blame on others!"

"_You'd_ better not talk!" retorted Five "I heard the Queen say only yesterday that you very nearly deserved to be _beheaded_!

"What for?" asked the one that had spoken first, whose scales, Yuki noticed were all of a club-shape, like in a pack of cards.

"That's none of _your_ business, Two!" said Seven, who had Diamond-shaped scales.

"Yes, it _is_ his business!" said Five, his scales of which were of a Spade-shape "And I'll tell him- it was for bringing the cook tulip-roots instead of onions."

Seven flung down his brush, and had just begun, "Well, of all the unjust things-" when his eye fell down upon Yuki, as he stood watching them, and he checked himself suddenly: the others looked around also, and bowed down low.

"Would you tell me," said Yuki, a little timidly, "why are you painting those roses?"

Five and Seven said nothing, but looked at Two. Two began in a low voice, "Why, the fact is, you see, Sir, this here _should_ have been a _Pink_ rose-tree, and we put in a white one by mistake, and if the Queen finds out, he'll be _so_ angry- he might have our heads chopped off! So you see, Sir, we're doing our best before he comes, to-"

At that moment, Five, who'd been anxiously looking across the garden, called out, "The Queen! The Queen!" and the three gardeners instantly threw themselves flat upon their scaly backs.

There was a sound of many footsteps, and Yuki looked around, curious to see this Queen that everyone had been talking about.

First came ten soldiers carrying clubs: they were all of the same sort of creature as the three gardeners, Yuki noticed; next ten courtiers; these all had shining crimson diamond-shaped scales, and were quite bejeweled. After these came all of the guests, mostly Kings and Queens, and among them Yuki recognized Momiji ("He really _is_ climbing up the social ladder young…" he mused): he was talking in a hurried, nervous manner, smiling brightly at everything that was said, and went by him without saying a word (Which Yuki found _most_ rude). Then followed the Knave of hearts, who was looking very out of place in the procession, and not the least bit interested. He was begrudgingly carrying the King's crown, and Yuki had to quickly stop himself from laughing, for he looked as if the whole thing to him was a silly children's game; and last of all in this grand parade, came THE KING AND QUEEN OF HEARTS.

Yuki wasn't sure if he was to lie down on his back like the gardeners, but he thought that it was such a silly idea that not even this place would think it to be fine, so he stood where he was, and waited.

While he was waiting, he studied the King and Queen. The King looked like he was enjoying himself the most and that it was all a game in which he mostly ruled over, for him. His Yukata was a plain royal blue, but he wore a cloak over this, which was covered in intricate embroidery, while the fringing was dotted with hearts, the identical shade to the colour that the roses were to have been. As he laughed to something that one of the guests said, Yuki was sure that this man was Shigure Sohma.

"Ah, you forget" piped up his conscience, making Yuki jump, for it had not been able to speak for quite some time "that this place changes the rules to what _you say_ is true. Why, whoever heard of the King of Hearts being a lowly Novelist!"

"Ah, true," thought Yuki "he isn't the real Shigure." To which his conscience began asking him why he was contradicting everything he knew that was correct. Yuki ignored it. He was getting very good at ignoring his conscience, actually.

While Yuki was thinking this, the procession had halted in front of him.

"Who is _this_?" said the Queen of Hearts severely, glaring down at Yuki-chan. The Queen had an identical cloak to the King, but this one was _all_ a lurid pink, and a little glitzier. Worn underneath the cloak was a dress of a very frilly variety, which was drawn together with something that looked a lot like a tape-measure, of which the loose ends hung in loops around his sleeves. The outfit was finished with a grand-looking staff, and a golden pink-jeweled crown was placed upon the Queen's silvery hair.

The Queen was elegantly holding up a fan to his face while he asked this. "Well?" he asked, narrowing his eyes slowly, as he looked around at the silent group. The King shrugged his shoulders, still smiling, while the Knave pretended to take no notice at all.

"Really, I only asked a question!" said the Queen, tossing his head impatiently, and turned to Yuki, still fanning his face quickly, "What's your name, little child?"

"My name is Yuki, your Majesty," said Yuki very politely, thinking that he should try to be polite to this Queen, if he was fond of arresting or beheading people. There was something that bothered Yuki about him, though…

"And who, dear Yuki-chan, are _these_?" asked the Queen, pointing to the three gardeners who were lying around the rose-tree; for, you see, as they were lying on their backs, and their under-scales were exactly the same as all of the other serpents, he could not tell whether they were gardeners, or soldiers, or any of the courtiers.

"How should _I_ know?" said Yuki coolly, surprised at his own daring "It's no business of _mine_."

The Queen blushed crimson with fury, and, after glaring at Yuki for a moment like a wild beast ("Like an angry serpent" Yuki noticed), shouted "Off with his head! Off-"

"Nonsense!" said Yuki, very loudly and clearly, and the Queen was silent, still blushing and fanning himself.

The King laid a hand upon his arm, and calmly said, always in a non-serious tone, "Consider, dear boy, if he keeps his head, we could have another one to join in with our game!"

The Knave looked up at this, and added, in an unimpressed tone, "It's also not very strategic to behead every person who disagrees with you."

The Queen glared, and said to the Knave, "Turn them over, please!"

The Knave did so, very carefully, with one foot.

"Get up!" snapped the Queen, in a shrill, loud voice, and the three gardeners got up immediately, and began arching down to bow to the Queen, the King, the Knave, and everybody else.

"Oh, leave off that!" glared the Queen, pausing in fanning himself to sigh "You're being most silly, and you're making me giddy." and then, turning to the rose-tree, he went on "What _have_ you been doing here?"

"May it please your Majesty," said Two in a very humble tone, bowing down low as he spoke, "We were just trying-"

"I see!" said the Queen quickly, who had been examining the roses in the meantime. "Off with their heads!" and the procession moved on, leaving behind three guards to execute the poor gardeners, who slithered to Yuki for protection.

"Don't worry!" Yuki said, and put them into a large flower-pot that stood near, for he did not like the idea of that horrid Queen getting his way. The three soldiers wandered about for a minute or two, looking for them, and then quietly marched off after the others.

"Are their heads off?" asked the Queen, looking over his shoulder at the guards.

"Their heads are gone, if it please your Majesty" replied the guards, in a quick tongue, flicking their own forked tongues out as they did so.

"That's right!" nodded the Queen. "Can you play croquet?"

The soldiers didn't reply, but looked at Yuki instead, so the question was clearly directed towards the Rat.

"Yes, a little." admitted Yuki quietly.

"Come on then!" said the Queen, waving his hand impatiently, and Yuki joined the procession, wondering where this would bring him.

"You've been rather quiet," Yuki remarked to his conscience, who was sitting once again on the Nezumi's shoulder.

"_Everyone_ knows that consciences have to attend when the Queen is talking to them." his conscience dismissed, fluttering its wings.

"It's a great day, ja?" said a bubbly-sounding voice at Yuki's side. He was walking beside Momiji, who was looking up at him, questionably.

"Very," said Yuki "-where's the Duchess?" For she was no where to be seen, even though Yuki clearly remembered that she was meant to play croquet with the Queen.

"Hush! Hush!" Momiji said quickly, his voice dropping a little. He looked carefully about as he spoke, then raised himself up on tip-toe, and whispered into Yuki's ear, "The poor Herzogin is under sentence of execution."

"What for?" asked Yuki.

"Did you say, 'What a pity!'?" Momiji asked.

"No, I'm sorry, I didn't," said Yuki "I don't think it's really a pity at all. I said 'What for?'"

"She commented on the Queen's fashion sense-" Momiji began. Yuki could not help but let out a little shriek of laughter. "Oh, try to be quiet!" Momiji whispered in a worried tone "The Queen will hear you! You see, she came rather late, and the Queen said-"

"In your places, all of you!" shouted the Queen, and everyone immediately began running about in all directions, bumping into each other; however, they got settled down in a minute or two, and the game began.

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Yuki thought he had never seen such an odd croquet ground in his life: it was all ridges and furrows, the balls were live (Bright pink) hedgehogs, the mallets live (Bright pink) flamingos, and the soldiers had to double themselves up and arch their bodies up like arches.

Yuki found that he wasn't very successful with the game. His flamingo kept on refusing to straighten itself out, and his conscience kept on protesting every time that Yuki managed to straighten the flamingo out, and was about to hit the hedgehog with it.

"I _do_ like birds," his conscience told Yuki, "And I don't find it very civil to whack them about on hedgehogs."

By this time, Yuki's hedgehog had begun crawling off, so he had to chase after it, and after a little while, Yuki concluded that this was a very stupid game indeed.

The players all played at once, without waiting for turns, and fighting for each other's hedgehogs. Very soon, they were making nasty comments to each other, which usually resulted in the Queen shouting "Off with his head!" or "Off with her head!" about once a minute.

This naturally made Yuki a little uneasy, and he was just trying to think of a way of leaving without being seen, when he noticed a curious apparition in the air.

It puzzled him very much at first, but after watching it for a moment or two, he made out a grin, and said to himself "It's that baka Neko: now I suppose I shall have someone to talk to."

"How are ya?" asked the Cat, as soon as there was mouth enough for him to speak with, though he didn't sound very interested.

Yuki waited until his eyes appeared, and then nodded, and waited for his ears to appear (For there should be no reason to speak if he had no ears to hear with). In another minute the whole head had appeared, and Yuki began into an account of how the game had been, happy to finally have someone other than his conscience (Who had gone off to talk with one of the flamingoes) to talk to.

The Kyou-cat (He was again in his Cat form) seemed to think there was no need for appearing more of himself, and left it at his head.

"I really don't think it's a very good game at all!" Yuki complained, quite forgetting that he disliked the Neko "Everyone is so fond of insulting each other, and if there are rules, if any at all, no one attends to them. And I _should_ have hit the Queen's Hedgehog a moment ago, but it _ran away_ when it saw mine coming!"

"How do you like the Queen?" said the Cat in a low voice.

"Not at all," Yuki glared, thinking he knew who the Queen reminded himself of now. "He's so extremely-" Just then he noticed that the Queen was close behind him, and listening: so he went on, "-likely to win, that there really isn't any point in finishing the game. And his fashion sense is fabulous!"

The Queen smiled, looking most pleased with himself, and passed on.

"Coulda' fooled me." the Cat grumbled to himself.

"Oh, little Yuki, who _are_ you talking to?" said the King, coming up to Yuki, and looking at the Cat's head oddly.

"He's an acquaintance of mine- a Cheshire Cat, I suppose," said Yuki "Allow me to introduce it."

"Well, I don't really like the look of it," said the King in his usual laughing tone: "however, he may kiss my hand if he likes."

"I'd rather not." remarked the Cat flatly.

"Maa, how rude!" wailed the King, which sounded decidedly fake, "and don't look at me like that with those angry eyes!"

"I don't think it's really wise to be arguing with a bodiless Cat." said Yuki, wondering how it was really possible.

"I don't care, it must be removed!" declared the King, waving his arms, and called to the Queen "My dear! Can you have this Cat removed?"

The Queen, when he was in such a cross state, had only one way of dealing with things that did not agree with him. "Off with its head," he said, without even looking around.

"I'll get the executioner myself!" laughed the King, rather nastily, and eagerly rushed off.

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Yuki decided that he should really go and find his conscience, so he wandered off in search of his flamingo. He found the bird hiding behind a bush with most of the other player's flamingoes, all evidently hiding from the Queen.

His conscience was sitting on the head of Yuki's flamingo, and was discussing a way to assassinate the Queen and take the throne for themselves (Yuki did not like this one bit, as it sounded a little bloodthirsty, and if the Queen was _indeed_ the odd doppelganger of his brother Ayame, Yuki did not want to find out if deaths extended to the real world).

"Come on," Yuki sighed, sounding very tired, and he picked up his conscience by one of its wings (To which it made many noises, such as: "Hey! Let go! You can't take me away from there! Let me go! Assault! Assault!" and a great deal of other things that were unmentionable), and took it back to where the Cheshire Cat was.

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When he got back, he was surprised to find quite a large group collected around the Cat: there was a dispute going on between the executioner, the King, and the Queen, who were all talking at once. The rest of the party were silent, and looked very uncomfortable.

The moment Yuki appeared, he was appealed to by all three to settle the question, and even though they repeated their arguments for him, Yuki still found it quite hard to understand them, for they were all talking at once.

The executioner's argument was that in order to behead somebody, there needed to be a neck to cut, and as there was no neck on the Cat, he couldn't do his job.

The King's argument was that anything that had a head could be _be_headed, and that you shouldn't talk such nonsense.

The Queen's argument was that if somebody didn't do something about the situation soon, he would have _everybody_ beheaded, and this last comment was what was making everybody look rather uncomfortable.

Yuki could not think of anything to say, so he told them "You should ask the Duchess- it's _her_ Cat."

"Oh, she's in prison," said the Queen to the executioner "Fetch her _now_." And the executioner slithered off as fast as his muscles would allow him to.

Kyou seemed to think this was a good cue to leave, and began fading away, so that when the executioner had finally come back with the Duchess, he had completely disappeared; so the King and the executioner ran wildly about looking for it, and the rest of the party went back to the game.

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For those wondering, Herzogin means "Duchess" in German. Please Review!

Zuki-chan.

And yet again, character illustrations. Omit the spaces, as usual:

The King of Hearts: http/www .deviantart. com/deviation /18417266/

The Knave of Hearts: http/www .deviantart. com/deviation /18553866/

The Queen shall come later…


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